New play area open at Blackpool Road North Playing Fields after £125,000 redevelopment

By Julia Bennett
Published 9th Nov 2022, 11:44 BST
Updated 9th Nov 2022, 11:44 BST
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A revamped play area has now opened in St Annes following a £125,000 redevelopment.

Work to renovate the Blackpool Road North Playing Fields play area is now complete, and the accessible play area for children aged four to 12 is open to the public. The park is themed around local amenities including the adjacent football pitch, the seaside and the nearby airport, and it features a diverse range of equipment and space for informal play.

Numerous partners – including Fylde Council officers; the elected members for Kilnhouse Ward Coun Karen Henshaw, Coun David O’Rourke and Coun Roger Small; St Annes Football Club; and the Friends of Blackpool Road North Playing Field – have worked together over the past five years with the aim of improving the area.

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Coun Roger Small said: “The Blackpool Road North Playing Fields are a beloved cornerstone of the community. It has been our pleasure to work with residents over the past few years, to listen to their concerns, and to be able to make the changes they’d like to see.”

Friends of Blackpool Road North Playing Fields Jol Martyn -Clark (treasurer), Di Martyn-Clark (secretary ), Coun Karen Henshaw (vice-chairman) and Coun Joanne Gardner (assistant treasurer) met a local family (pictured centre) enjoying the new Blackpool Road North Playing Fields play area - and raised a toast togetherFriends of Blackpool Road North Playing Fields Jol Martyn -Clark (treasurer), Di Martyn-Clark (secretary ), Coun Karen Henshaw (vice-chairman) and Coun Joanne Gardner (assistant treasurer) met a local family (pictured centre) enjoying the new Blackpool Road North Playing Fields play area - and raised a toast together
Friends of Blackpool Road North Playing Fields Jol Martyn -Clark (treasurer), Di Martyn-Clark (secretary ), Coun Karen Henshaw (vice-chairman) and Coun Joanne Gardner (assistant treasurer) met a local family (pictured centre) enjoying the new Blackpool Road North Playing Fields play area - and raised a toast together

Members of the Friends of Blackpool Road North Playing Field visited the new play area at the weekend to see the renovation in all its glory.

Coun Karen Henshaw said: “Four members of the BRNPF Friends group went down to the new play area and met a very grateful local family enjoying the new play equipment, despite the rainy weather. We raised a toast to Fylde Council to say ‘thank you’.”The Friends group was formed seven years ago and has built a path and benches around the outside of the playing fields with £12,000 of funding from Tesco.

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The completion of the play area renovation marks another milestone in the progress of the park’s masterplan, which has already seen the replacement of the degraded culvert and the installation of new lateral drains in a bid to prevent flooding.

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Councillors Roger Small and David O’Rourke with leader of Fylde Council, Coun Karen Buckley at the revamped Blackpool Road North Playing FieldsCouncillors Roger Small and David O’Rourke with leader of Fylde Council, Coun Karen Buckley at the revamped Blackpool Road North Playing Fields
Councillors Roger Small and David O’Rourke with leader of Fylde Council, Coun Karen Buckley at the revamped Blackpool Road North Playing Fields

Coun David O’Rourke said: “My fellow councillors and I would like to thank all our partners for their hard work in developing the Blackpool Road North Playing Fields site masterplan, and in helping us realise this wonderful new play area. Without the cooperation of residents, the St Annes Football

Club, and the Friends of Blackpool Road North Playing Field, this project would not have been achievable.”

Related topics:St AnnesWork